


Say the Magic Words: II

by reconditarmonia



Series: Say the Magic Words [2]
Category: Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, F/F, Letters, Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:07:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22998157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reconditarmonia/pseuds/reconditarmonia
Summary: Miryem and Wanda consider the subject of marriage.
Relationships: Miryem Mandelstam/Wanda Vitkus
Series: Say the Magic Words [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1660381
Comments: 12
Kudos: 21
Collections: Purimgifts 2020





	Say the Magic Words: II

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kass/gifts).



Whenever I wanted to write letters to my family, I’d ask a servant to bring them to the little house on the edge of twilight and night, and to leave them on the table or the shelf. It was a finicky thing, and the Staryk didn’t understand it any more than I did; the letters might vanish the moment the servant looked away or they might sit there for days, even while I knew someone must be home on the other side, and then appear -- according to the letters I received in return -- in a corner or on top of the stove.

Wanda’s letters back to me had grown longer, her writing smaller and neater, over the years, but she never stopped including little things that, she said, made her think of me. I kept them safe as treasures: the first red flower she saw in spring, a picture that one of my relatives had brought that showed a bird formed of tiny Hebrew letters, not things that anyone but her might have associated with me. When Sergey was courting a girl and it seemed as though they might marry, she was the first to tell me. 

_Have you thought of marrying anyone?_ I wrote back. I knew how important it was to her to be able to choose, instead of being sold off like a pig, and she was free now. Stepon was still there to help my parents, and Sergey would probably bring his bride to live with him, anyway; I wouldn’t have been surprised if Wanda wanted a home of her own.

 _No_ , she wrote. The next few lines of the letter were crossed out, then, _What is marriage like among the Staryk?_

I told her about how a Staryk woman might marry one Staryk man for power and position, another to father her children, and yet another for love, if no one man combined all three qualities. _She can even marry another woman_ , I wrote; _it is not uncommon here_. Something possessed me to add, _My marriage to the king is the first kind. A palace might have been part of the bargain when I changed his silver to gold, but a home wasn’t_. I didn’t realize until I wrote the words how much Wanda’s “no” had given me hope. Or perhaps it was closer to say that it unearthed a hope that I’d buried, or a seed that was only waiting for the snow to melt. _Come home_ , I almost asked, though she’d never been in my kingdom.

I could, I thought. Not in a letter just like that, but if she came, I could ask her to stay. To make this the place she came back to if she wanted to explore to the edges of the goblin- or dwarrow-realms; I couldn't offer her a kingdom, but I didn't think she'd want one more than she wanted to be free. 

_Then tell me how I should court you_ , said Wanda’s next letter, as though she’d read all the words I didn’t write. My heart beat like birds’ wings in my chest. _Papa and Mama Mandelstam told me how it is for your people; what must I do to satisfy the Staryk?_

And so I told her everything, until at last she had come to my kingdom, and I told her the words to make her mine, and me hers. 


End file.
